Thursday, May 13, 2010

Where I Am (or Where I'm At, as they say here)

A bit quiet on the crafting front in our house this fortnight.

It's also been raining non-stop the past week, so we haven't been hitting the parks much (or at all). We did a simple little paper craft this morning (photos later when the storm clouds go away and the lighting in the universe improves) which I will share maybe tomorrow.

I have a quarter-finished cardboard construction that I am desperate to work on but can't because it has to be a secret from the kids. It is cardboard AND electronics, which is why I think the girls will love it. I'd work on it at nights but I have a sewing deadline to meet, so argh! Priorities. Whenever sewing gets higher on the priority list than cardboard+batteries, the planets are misaligned.

I am also in a silly Top-Stitching Mania phase. Meaning I want to add top-stitching to every garment I am making. Slower-than-a-sloth-on-Sunday hand-sewn top-stitching, not the efficient sewing- machine type. Tomorrow (or whenever the lighting in the universe improves) I might take a photo of that buttery yellow linen with grey topstitching and ask you all if it's too ridiculous for a tunic or not.

Emily's teachers' end-of-year gifts are turning out to be somewhat nightmarish. It is entirely my fault because I miscalculated a very important measurement and I don't think it's going to work. And I can't start trying to fix them yet because I am fanatically top-stitching two identical skirts right now. Yes, she's started to mass-produce her own clothes, like a chain department store. When she has no time. She's finally flipped.

And all this, you say, without a single photo! What sort of blogging is this? How will she get us to believe her? Or pity her?

I don't need pity. I need a crate of jars of nutella. A crate of Bailey's Irish Creme also might be nice. Have you ever had Bailey's in your hot chocolate? I used to only drink hot chocolate that way. Mmmm.

How come I never knew you liked Bailey's Irish Cream? Or maybe I did and it got erased like half of my trivia memory after I had the child...

Here's an idea: mix some nutella with a small tumbler of Bailey's (or else spoon a mouthful of nutella into your mouth and quickly chase it with a shot of Bailey's before swirling the lot and then swallowing.

Mmmm....(must remind self to buy bottle of Bailey's and nutella on next grocery trip).

I have been trying to be good about not eating as much chocolate and have no chocolate chips, ice cream or nutella in the house. Yesterday I was reduced to making brownies from scratch to fill my chocolate need. I am going to have to try Bailey's.

I can't wait to see your pictures! I have been trying to convince my husband that I need the chicken and pig patterns for my birthday. Somehow he doesn't think patterns are a romantic/thoughtful gift?!? Men.

My piece of the universe has improved lighting today, but I'm annoyed because storms were predicted so I didn't hang out laundry like I needed to.(Always something to complain about).I absolutely adore topstitching, but I've only ever used my machine, so I'm very eager to see yours. I'm tickled that you're so frank about your crafty problems and miscalculations, because I consider you a very talented seamstress and I forget that even the talented ones goof :)

Hello all!I haven't been on the computer all day because the lighting in the universe DID improve. To the point where I took the kids out the the library and then the park all afternoon and then refused to cook so we ate out and came home and read books all evening! All that to say, I do apologize for not moderating comments till almost midnight now!

Jen: That's about as drunken as I will ever get. I no longer have a bottle of Bailey's in the house- gave that up along with my waistline when I had the children. Now I only have cooking wines (and sherry). They would taste vile with hot chocolate or nutella.

Grandma G: Nutella probably slows sewing down, unless you have it in an IV drip like I do! Very excited to see the rest of the chickens!

Leila: Yes, men have different ideas of romantic. My husband, for instance, bought me a T-square for a gift last year. I looked at it doubtfully at first but now I use it all the time and wonder how I ever survived without it.

Margo: Oh, you should see the goofs I get up to! In fact, now that the lighting in the universe has improved, I must dig out a particularly bad dress I made for Emily and photograph it.

Oh, why did you have to bring up Bailys in hot chocolate?! Shame on you ... now I really crave it! And I can not have it ... (still nursing) ... :-( I LOVE Bailys in hot chocolate! *sigh* Weird how you can forget about things like that ... I have not had that in ages ...

Oh the Bailey's in hot chocolate sounds so good, it is winter here in NZ so I think it would be perfect right now:-). We have had some rainy days too and made some rainy day pictures - they are lots of fun and make the rainy day worthwhile. After you have organized the rainy day - paint a picture with water soluble paints and pop out in the rain to 'develop'.

Hello and Welcome!

I am a gratefully unemployed mom of three girls, all of whom are growing up much too soon! I like piles of warm, fresh laundry, the smell of salt air near the beach where I used to live, making lists, anything round (like heads) and the quiet evenings sitting with the man of the house after the kids are in bed.

Copyright

You are welcome to link to this blog and to any post on this blog and use ONE or TWO photos for that purpose. Do not use photos of my children. You are welcome to pin images from my blog, if those photos do not have my children's faces in them. Please contact me if you want to use the text on, or more photos from, this blog. Do not post my tutorials on your sites. Do not translate tutorials from this blog into other languages on your site. The ideas and instructions in the tutorials are free - but please use them to only make stuff for yourself or for gifts and not to sell. Ta! For more information, this and this might be helpful.